Thomas Hawk is one fascinating photographer. His photographs touch the soul of the viewer. He brings his emotions and thoughts to life through his artistic and somewhat abstract images. Secondly Hawk is so fascinating in that he is one of the most prolific photographers of the current day. Hawk, who currently lives in Oakland, CA, has more photos posted on the internet than any other photographer I can think of and what's so great about this is his photos are all excellent - not one bad photo in his library.
- Randall Webb
Thomas Hawk in Death Valley (taken by Amy Heiden)
The following is a short bio written by Thomas Hawk:
Sometimes I
like to think of myself as a photography factory. I see my photographs mostly
as raw material for projects that might be worked on at some point later on in
life.
We all have
but a short time on this earth. As slow as time can be it is also fast, swift,
furious and mighty and then it’s over. Jack Kerouac is dead. Andy Warhol is
dead. Garry Winogrand is dead. Lee Friedlander, Stephen Shore and William
Eggleston are not dead yet, but probably will be at some point. Charles Bukowski
once said that endurance was more important than truth. Charles Bukowski's now
dead.
When I'm
not taking or processing the pictures I'm mostly thinking about the pictures.
I'm trying to publish a library of 1,000,000 finished, processed photographs
before I die.
The
absurdity of my obsessive compulsive view on photography is not lost on me. But
it is the absurdity of life that I find most beautiful of all. Where Sisyphus
had his stone I have my camera and a bag full of lenses.
Document,
explore, lather, rinse, repeat. Photography for me then becomes a kind of
hyperactivity, loosely arranged and presented. My work is less about individual
images and instead more about the power of a massive amount of excessive and
disjointed images where stories, characters and places sometimes stay and other
times reappear or disappear entirely for no good reason at all.
Most of my
images are Creative Commons licensed, non commercial with attribution. If
you'd like to use any CC licensed images for non commercial or personal
purposes feel free. If you'd like to use any of my images commercially,
please contact me.
Pinned to
Jack Kerouac's wall to inspire his writing: "Art is the highest task and the proper metaphysical activity of
this life." -Nietzsche
"Don't think about making art.
Just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they
love it or hate it. While they're deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol
Now here are a few photos for you to enjoy!
Thomas Hawk Photographer
Bay Bridge (2005)
Cold Is The Color (2011)
Colors and Shapes (2005)
Keep Trying To Explain (2011)
Nashville, Mt. Olivet and More
Obey Melrose (2010)
San Francisco Giants Neon (2008)
The House Where I Was Born (2007)
The Miles Were Good (2011)
Wrap You In My Colors and Keep You Warm (2005)
You're The Color of the Colored Part of the Wizard of Oz Movie (2011)
Thank you Mr. Thomas Hawk for letting me feature you on this blog.
